Once in La Antigua, we explored the mercado (market) before going to the bodega. We needed a bomba (pump) for our garrafón (five gallon water bottle). We also bought some small pots to cook with and other supplies. We then went to the mercado and bought some vegetables for a soup we were planning to fix for supper. Since it was about time for lunch, we decided to throw caution to the wind and eat in a comedor (small food stand with seating) in the mercado. I asked what the comida tipica (blue plate special) was and was told it was Chicken Pepian, the same meal we had enjoyed last night. When it was served, although the servings were a smaller lunch size, it was quite tasty. In the sauce and absent the night before was a serving of guisquil (http://revuemag.com/2009/09/guisquil/), a type of mild flavored squash that picks up the flavor of what it is cooked with. By the way, the lunch, with canned sodas, was only 30 quetzales (about $3.75) for the two of us. The sauce was also better(spicier), in my opinion.
Following lunch, we went looking for a chicken bus to take us back to the apartment. This time, we found one going our way (apologies to Bing Crosby) and were dropped off much closer to where we wanted to get out. Our apartment is across the road from the C.V. cemetery and I've still not been successful getting us to it's last exit. The best I've been able to do is the last "public" exit from the cemetery, which is still quite close to where we want to be. Exercise, after all, is good for you.
Once back in the apartment, we checked in with our gmail account, found that Donna (our oldest daughter who lives in California) was logged in, so we invited her to join us on a gmail video chat. She responded and we enjoyed visiting with her, Nic, Cos and Gia until it was time to take Nic to school. When we disconnected, we discovered that Susan (our middle daughter in Texas) was online, so we did some video chatting with her. After she disconnected so that she could pick up Erik and Max from school, we took another nap.
We were awakened from our nap by a request to video chat with Susan and the boys. That gmail video chat is great and it's free. After visiting with Susan and the boys, we started supper. Linda is our cocinera (cook) and I'm her ayudante (assistant). While she got started, I cleaned the vegetables we would put in our soup with disinfectant called Sanavida (a bleach solution). While the soup was simmering, we made some tea to go with it and enjoyed a huge avocado (40 cents) as an appetizer. The soup was good, but we need a bigger pot, since there weren't any leftovers.
Tonight, we're enjoying some movies in English with Spanish subtitles. Tomorrow we go to Chimaltenango and the Melotto School.
